Why Liam Rosenior is already proving he might be the perfect Chelsea manager

We’re just two games into Liam Rosenior’s reign at Chelsea but there are signs that the new man in charge could be the perfect head coach for the Blues… or at least for Todd Boehly and the rest of their owners.

What do you mean?

Let’s start off the pitch: there’s no question that Rosenior can talk a good game. He comes across as intelligent, empathetic and earnest in his desire to treat his players as people – something the wider football world could learn from.

Unfortunately for Rosenior, football fans tend to view sincerity as a bit of a weakness, especially when it veers into David Brent territory.

A clip emerged earlier this week from a Ligue 1 documentary about his time in charge of Strasbourg in France.

Rosenior is describing his philosophy and management style.

‘In English “manage”, if you split into two words, it’s “man”, “age”, so you’re ageing men,’ he said. Answers on a postcard for that one.

Rosenior named Brendan Rodgers as one of his coaching idols in his first interview with his new club, but the biggest lesson he could learn from his former Reading manager is what not to say.

None of this will particularly bother the Chelsea owners, whose main aim will be to make a return on their investment when they decide to sell the club.

How are things different from Enzo Maresca?

Aside from his eagerness to work with and not against the medical team, on the pitch Rosenior is looking to build up through his central midfielders more than Maresca, so gone are the inverted full backs.

Against Arsenal this culminated in a number of sticky situations as the defence came under pressure from misplaced passes time and time again, but it’s a style that can be exciting to watch if it comes good. 

While Maresca avoided including his goalkeeper in the buildup, mostly due to Robert Sanchez’s lack of composure on the ball, Rosenior is encouraging him to ‘do things that he hasn’t done before’.

He was coy on what exactly those things are, but on the evidence of the first twenty minutes against Arsenal, he might need to explain them a little better to Sanchez.

Something says a change in goalkeeper is afoot either before the January transfer window closes, or early next summer.

Will Rosenior succeed?

It depends on your definition of success. For the fans it’s winning trophies and only time will tell on that front – there’s still a slim chance of them lifting the Carabao Cup in March.

As for the owners? Once he’s able to develop their youngsters to be sold on for a profit, then they might not worry too much about the trophy cabinet for now.

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